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Army factions fight to control state TV after Burundi coup

Jessica Hatcher

May 15 2015, 1:01am, The Times

People celebrate in Bujumbura following the news that President Nkurunziza had been overthrownGetty Images

Rival factions of Burundi’s army were battling for control of the state broadcaster last night, amid claims that the president had returned to the country after an attempted coup by the former intelligence chief. After a day of clashes, a text message from the presidency claimed that President Nkurunziza, who had been in Tanzania when the coup began on Wednesday, was “back in Burundi”. The message declined to give details of how he might have returned, or his whereabouts, but continued: “He congratulates the army, the police and the Burundian people.”

Yesterday, after bursts of gunfire in the capital and continued fighting, the body of a soldier who had supported the putsch lay face down in the centre of Bujumbura, close to the government RTNB…